Effects of chlorella on activities of protein tyrosine phosphatases, matrix metalloproteinases, caspases, cytokine release, B and T cell proliferations, and phorbol ester receptor binding.

A Chlorella powder was screened using 52 in vitro assay systems for enzyme activity, receptor binding, cellular cytokine release, and B and T cell proliferation. The screening revealed a very potent inhibition of human protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) activity of CD45 and PTP1C with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) values of 0.678 and 1.56 microg/mL, respectively. It also showed a moderate inhibition of other PTPs, including PTP1B (IC(50) = 65.3 microg/mL) and T-cell-PTP (114 microg/mL). Other inhibitory activities and their IC(50) values included inhibition of the human matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) MMP-1 (127 microg/mL), MMP-3 (185 microg/mL), MMP-7 (18.1 microg/mL), and MMP-9 (237 microg/mL) and the human peptidase caspases caspase 1 (300 microg/mL), caspase 3 (203 microg/mL), caspase 6 (301 microg/mL), caspase 7 (291 microg/mL), and caspase 8 (261 microg/mL), as well as release of the cytokines interleukin (IL)-1 (44.9 microg/mL), IL-2 (14.8 microg/mL), IL-4 (49.2 microg/mL), IL-6 (34.7 microg/mL), interferon-gamma (31.6 microg/mL), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (11 microg/mL) from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Chlorella also inhibited B cell proliferation (16.6 microg/mL) in mouse splenocytes and T cell proliferation (54.2 microg/mL) in mouse thymocytes. The binding of a phorbol ester, phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate, to its receptors was also inhibited by Chlorella with an IC(50) of 152 microg/mL. These results reveal potential pharmacological activities that, if confirmed by in vivo studies, might be exploited for the prevention or treatment of several serious pathologies, including inflammatory disease and cancer.